Fans finally have an explanation for why Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter was absent from Avengers: Infinity War.
Introduced in 2014 in Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the great-niece of Peggy Carter became a potential love interest for Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers. VanCamp reprised her role in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, but that appears to be the end of her story, for now.
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Speaking with Collider, Infinity War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely confirmed that although Sharon appeared in early drafts of the script, there was simply too much of Thanos’ story to squeeze into the epic film to accommodate every character.
“Sharon Carter was a victim of what we came to realize as we were writing it,” Markus explained, “which is that if you’re writing scenes that set up people before the story has gotten to them such as Steve and Sharon trying to make it work in an apartment, they’re gonna go because the movie does not have time to catch up ‘previously on the life of Steve Rogers.’”
The writers elaborated that the grittier, bearded version of Steve Rogers having a relationship just didn’t fit with the story they were trying to tell. “Once it became sort of a smash-and-grab type movie, anything that wasn’t on the main A plot about and in response to Thanos collecting stones mostly got jettisoned,” McFeely said.
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That Sharon was last seen in Civil War sharing a passionate kiss with Captain America, Infinity War could’ve easily carried on that storyline and taken their relationship to the next level. However, while there was a tease of more romance for Black Widow and Bruce Banner, and the relationship between Vision and Scarlet Witch became a major part of the movie, Steve and Sharon were left by the wayside.
Sharon joins a long list of high-profile heroes absent from Infinity War, alongside the likes of Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Nakia and Valkyrie. Admittedly, having these names missing from Infinity War puts them in a prime position to come to the rescue in Avengers 4, but Sharon could’ve just as easily been wiped out by Thanos’ finger-snap moment.
Markus and McFeely kept their cards close to their chest regarding whether Sharon was part of the 50 percent of life that wasn’t turned to dust by the time the credits rolled. Although a sparse first synopsis for Avengers 4 has already made its way online, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will have to wait until the concluding part of the story hits theaters next year to find out how Phase Three comes to a close, and whether Sharon Carter will be part of it.
In theaters now, Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Benedict Wong, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland and Anthony Mackie.